July 31st, 2008 Admin
As a business owner I depend on my ability to fund operations with credit cards. This not only allows me to extend my cash flow at least an additional 30 days, but provides me with short-term interest free financing of our operations. For the first few years of my business I used the American Express Business card as my primary source for payments and took advantage of rewards points. The rewards program is great, but it only give you back about ½ percent of the money you spend - which isn’t great these days. On top of that, I found that I wasn’t really taking advantage of the points that I had earned and they were starting to accumulate. Typically that rewards prized were over priced anyway.
Earlier this year AMEX announced an new card knows as the Plum and our business has greatly benefited. This card works the say way but the difference is that if you pay your balance 20 days after your statement closes you get 2% back on the total. That’s huge for a business! We are now seeing actual cash come back to us each month rather than points that we weren’t using to begin with. If you decide to extend your payment out for the full 30 days you still get 1% back and they have options of paying over time that are much more reasonable than normal high interest rates associated with most cards. This cash back card is much harder to qualify than any other AMEX that I’m aware of and you will be required to provide accurate company financials to an underwriting department. But once you have the card - it’s the best option out there for funding your business operations. I’m a big fan!
Steve P.
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July 28th, 2008 Admin
At What Age Should You Worry About Building Credit
There really isn’t a set age where you should worry about building your credit. However, there are small steps you should take when you are young that will give you a strong foundation for good credit. Make sure you research what credit is and make responsible decisions.
As soon as you turn 16, try and find a part-time job. Having a good work history is a key element in building good credit. The sooner you find a job, the more likely you are to learn responsibility and good work ethic. Lenders view this favorably.
What are you going to do with all of your paychecks when you get your first job? Cash them? That is a lot of cash to have on hand, and you won’t be doing anything for your credit. Open a checking or savings account. You may need your parents on the account with you. That’s OK. With a part-time job and an account to put your paychecks in, lenders will be impressed with your stability and responsibility. Another way to help you build credit is to be added as an authorized user on your parent’s credit card. Make sure your parent’s have a good credit history, otherwise it won’t get you very far. As a user on their account, you will be able to piggyback on their credit while you build your own credit.
When you are 18, apply for a small credit card on your own. By this time, you should have enough credit to be approved for a small amount. Even if you are approved for more, only put a couple hundred dollar limit on the card. Use this card to make small purchases and then pay it off every month. Not only will this build your credit, but it will get you in the habit of using your card wisely. You won’t be completely dependent on a credit card if you budget your money and pay the balance off every month.
Once you have had a job for several years and used your credit card wisely, it will probably be time to apply for an auto loan. Be careful with this. Make sure you pick out something reliable and something you can afford. Again, budget your money. You probably won’t be approved for a brand new car, but you may be approved for a higher amount than you want to spend. Remember, you aren’t looking for the newest and nicest car. You are looking for something to get you around town and something that will build your credit.
The best way to build your credit is to start while you are still young and make good decisions. Be sure to make a budget and stick to it. This will get you in the habit of being responsible. Make sure you know what you are getting into. Research anything you are unclear on or talk to a financial professional. These are the best ways to build your credit and get you in the habit of having good credit for the rest of your life.
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July 25th, 2008 Admin
In the few years that my wife and I have been married, we haven’t been able to travel as much as we would have liked to. I’ve spent the past few years attending school and trying to support our growing family which often doesn’t leave much money left over for things like traveling to visit family, friends or others places we would like to visit. I wanted to try and find a credit card that could give us the flexibility to redeem points for airline flights and hotel stays from our everyday purchases. I decided on the Starwood American Express credit card because the card offers us the ability to redeem points on over 25 airlines and hotel stays at over 900 Starwood Hotels & Resorts throughout the world. It only takes 20,000 points for a free flight versus the normal 25,000 on many of the other airline credit cards we looked at. Getting a free night at a hotel is between 3,000 and 16,000 points depending on the category Starwood uses to classify the particular hotel.
Earlier this year, we used some points to stay overnight at a local Sheraton hotel. This summer we will soon use some more of our points to stay in a hotel on our trip to San Diego. I only have to redeem points for four nights and we get the fifth night free as part of one promotion Starwood has in addition to several others. Using our points to stay in San Diego will save us hundreds of dollars in vacation expenses, allowing us to stretch our vacation budget even further. Redeeming point for free flights and hotel stays isn’t all we can use our points for. Points can be used for receiving gift cards and lots more.
My wife and I use the card on every purchase we make and pay it off every month. Almost every place we shop accepts our American Express card, so we have been able to accrue almost 80,000 points in a very short time. There is a $45 annual fee with the card, but the benefits far outweigh the cost of that fee. Dealing with both the American Express and Starwood Hotels customer service departments has always been excellent. I would recommend this card to anyone who wants the flexibility to redeem points on flights or hotel stays.
Jason S.
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July 24th, 2008 Admin
My husband and I have an Delta SkyMiles American Express Platinum credit card that we love. American Express has come a long way and is accepted at most places, which is really nice. It’s also the only credit card that Costco accepts, so we are able to use it for purchases inside the store as well as for our gas and we get double miles all the time for those purchases. American Express offers double miles on a lot of everyday purchases like gas and groceries and also has a lot of promotional periods where you can earn triple miles and it usually during the holidays, so you are earning lots of miles when you are spending the most money anyway. We also love that we get an itemized list of how we spent our money each year, which is very helpful for budgeting and for tax purposes.
We’ve used our SkyMiles to travel to Hawaii, California (several times), Washington DC, and we just cashed in miles to go to Canada. We love to travel and it’s great not having to pay for our flights anymore. We’ve never had a problem booking a flight or using our miles. We don’t even have to book months in advance. We also get a free companion voucher each year with our platinum card, which more than covers the annual fee. It’s surprising how fast the miles add up and the rising cost of airfare is no longer an issue or problem when planning trips thanks to our credit card!
Jennifer J.
Posted in American Express Credit Card | 1 Comment »
July 21st, 2008 ccblogger
We use a credit card from Chase with no rewards. We’ve been planning on switching to a card with rewards but have never made the change because of laziness. Even though we feel like we don’t ever use the card, I recently calculated how many reward dollars we could have earned over the last month, year, and 5 years. It’s remarkable to see how much you can earn. We were crazy not to get a cash back credit card. I can only imagine how much we’ll earn when we’re actually motivated to use our credit cards. It goes without saying… we’ll be making the change shortly.
Cory T.
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